Fellowship · Education · SSF · Global Missions

Teaching the surgeons
who will teach the next ones.

Fellowship director at Swedish. Course director at the Seattle Science Foundation. 130+ surgeons trained since the program began. Kids in Medicine. Nairobi.

"I was given extraordinary teachers. The only honest response to that is to become one."
Dr. Rod J. Oskouian, MD, FAANS
Swedish Neuroscience Institute

Complex and Minimally Invasive
Spine Fellowship.

What makes it rare
A combined ortho-spine and neuro-spine program. One of a small number nationally that crosses both disciplines.
Selection
1-2 fellows per year from a competitive national and international pool.

By graduation, fellows have seen the cases most surgeons encounter in their first ten years.

Lateral Approaches MIS Fusion Adult Deformity Robotics Tumor and Trauma Revision Surgery
130+ Surgeons trained, practicing across the US and internationally
20+ Years the program has been running at Swedish
Both Ortho-spine and neuro-spine accepted, one of few programs nationally
1-2 Fellows selected per year from a national and international pool
Robotic-Assisted Curriculum
  • Medtronic AiBLE and Stryker navigation platforms in the core curriculum
  • One of very few fellowships with a structured robotic-spine track
Annual Courses He Runs

Classroom, cadaver lab,
and surgical suite.

Seattle Science Foundation
"You can't change where
someone started. You can
change where
they go next."
Get in touch about mentorship

Kids in Medicine.
The premed pipeline.

The best time to invest in a future physician is years before medical school.

  • Premeds, undergrad researchers, and medical students mentored through SSF since the program started
  • Research internships in spinal cord anatomy, imaging analysis, cadaveric dissection, and bibliometric research
  • Not staged, not simulated. Real scientific work.
Some become surgeons
Others become scientists. All leave with a clearer picture of what this work actually demands.
Not the resume version
The real one. The one that exists at 2 a.m. during a polytrauma case.
Global Surgical Missions

Nairobi. Kenyatta.
Since 2014.

  • Collaborating with surgeons at Kenyatta National Hospital since 2014
  • Alongside Kenyan neurosurgeons Drs. Ombachi and Otieno
  • Clinical care, surgical training, and case consultation

The goal is not to fly in and leave. It is to teach until the program runs without him. That takes time. He has given it time.

Kenya · Ongoing Since 2014
Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Collaborative spine surgery project with Drs. Ombachi and Otieno. Clinical care, surgical training, and case consultation. A long-form commitment, not a one-week mission.

Also Active Through
  • SIGN Fracture Care International: cadaveric course director
  • Surgeons from 11 countries with limited access to advanced surgical training
What Drives It
"The surgeons I trained under didn't just teach me technique. They showed me what this job asks of you. That is what I try to pass on."
Dr. Rod J. Oskouian, MD, FAANS
Get in touch about fellowship or mentorship The biography